Cowboy Joe West on the call
Crew chief Joe West, who was working home plate tonight, explained why Melvin Mora was ruled out, and why he ejected manager Dave Trembley:
"Here's what happened. I see the ball in the dirt. The hitter walked toward the dugout to throw his bat and helmet away. He, in doing so, has abandoned his effort to reach the next base. He's called out, according to the rule. I didn't see him because I'm watching Pudge (catcher Ivan Rodriguez) with the ball. So, that's why I had to ask for help. 'What did [Mora] do?' And they all agreed that he abandoned his effort to go to first and that's why he was called out."
Asked when he determined that Mora abandoned his effort to first base, West replied: "As soon as I consulted with the other guys. If he's not running to first base, he has abandoned his effort."
As for Trembley's ejection, West said: "You know what, you'll have to ask him that. But I explained to him that after a crew consultation that you cannot argue the decision after the explanation. We gave him his explanation and he continued to argue. We warned him twice. I told him, 'You cannot argue this. We've given you an explanation and that's it, so don't argue again.' When he argued the second time, we had to eject him."
Trembley wouldn't address the topic afterward for fear that he'd say too much.
"I am not going to talk about getting me getting thrown out," he said. "I am not going to talk about that because I'll probably say something that I shouldn't, so I'm not going to talk about it."
Fair enough.
Special props to Sun beat writer Jeff Zrebiec for doubling as pool reporter and gathering West's quotes.
Trembley did have something to say about Brian Roberts being called out at second base on Melvin Mora's line drive to Robinson Cano in the first inning:
"What it looked like was he didn't get tagged," Trembley said. "I thought it was a phantom tag. That was Brian's contention. But more times than not, when you're off that far and you get caught like that, they're going to anticipate it and call you out before anything occurs. That's part of the game. It's the same thing with a pickoff. If the ball beats you, they call you out."
Ramon Hernandez has a 13-game hitting streak, tying his career high.
As for the play at home plate in the first inning, when Johnny Damon slid under Hernandez, Trembley said: "Ramon's tag was high. It was a good call. (Ed) Rapuano made the good call. I commend him for hustling. But the tag was high, for whatever reason. Damon got in there. He was safe."
Rapuano was the first base umpire, but he shifted to the plate to make the call. I have no idea what happened to West.
One last item: I mentioned in an earlier entry that Triple-A Norfolk's Oscar Salazar was removed for a pinch-hitter after one at-bat. I'm told the same thing happened last night after Salazar complained of dizziness.
No official word yet on what happened tonight, but perhaps he experienced the same feelings and left as a precaution.
Joe West is wrong here. He knows it but NY's manager can come out and argue and Trembley can't. The rule book says the play stops when the ump declairs the batter out, either by being tagged,throwing to first base and tagging the base, or the ump calling the batter out when the batter makes no move to first, but Mora was never called out by West. Mora was not out of the baseline like some were saying...and because he was not declared out...Mora had a right to run to first. If you watch a right handed batter strike out and their dugout is on the 3rd base side...you will see the ump wait till they are almost half way to the dugout before declaring...and they always make the out gesture. Joe West was wrong but didn't want to get NY back out to the field and extent the inning..another instance of the Yankees gettin their way.
Oh and by the way, I am a college umpire, so I know the rule!
hey roch,
i might be a little behind on this one (as in i haven't heard anything since he got hurt in ST) but what's going on with the other pitcher we got in the tejada deal? troy patton i think his name is? is he still with the team or did we release him or is he done for the year or...?
also, do you think liz is gonna settle in at this level ever?
and last, can you see a rotation of guthrie plus 4 home growns in the next two or three years?
thanks bud,
steve
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Patton is recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum. The club thinks he'll be OK for spring training, but we'll see.
Liz has a lot of potential, and I think he'll be a good major league pitcher down the road. But I'm not sure in what capacity - starter or late-inning reliever.
As for your last question, yes, I can see Guthrie and four homegrowns. That's certainly the plan. - Roch
I guess if you argue with the ump and want him to reverse a call it gets done as long as you have an "NY" on your hat. MLB must be sweating bullets in fear that their beloved Yankees may not make the post-season so the boys in blue are pulling out all the stops to give them every advantage they can...kind of like the 'company men' in the NBA...
Sorry for being off topic, but could MASN possibly broadcast a worse picture than they did when they televised the Ravens game last night? I know it's an away game, but if you have an HDTV, you might as well not even watch it. It looks like the graphics from one of the first video games after Pong--nothing but little blurry people (except when they show close up shots). I sure hope MASN gets to the 21st century and starts televising all their stuff in HD. It's ridiculous that most O's games aren't shown in HD. If they can do it for the Yankees and Red Sox, they can do it all the time.
I guess it must be your employer Roch because the excellent rhetoric is no longer present. Just blandness, everyday 1+1=2 stuff we see from the beat writers.
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You must not be reading all the entries. And I'll take information and breaking news over glitter any day. And as I seem to recall, you usually had complaints about my other blog, so maybe it's just issues with me. That's OK. I'm not for everybody. - Roch
Roch - Rapuano moved from first to home on the play because West headed up to third base. Because of the direction of the play, the second base umpire went out to determine if the ball was caught, 3rd base ump to second, home to third, and first base ump (after seeing ARod touch first base) went to cover home. Good umpiring mechanics when working with 3 field umps, actually...
You knew it couldn't last the rest of the season. Having scored three runs or less in four(all of which have been losses) of the last five games, it looks like the team's great offensive run may be coming to an end. That combined with the current rotation could easily be a recipe for another late(r) season collapse. One can only hope that is not the case.
Could Salazar being removed for a pinch-hitter tonight indicate that someone is going to be moved in a trade? One can hope so. It's tiring watching Millar and Payton in the lineup on a consistent basis. Was odd to hear that Trembley can't wait to give Markakis some much needed rest in September when an extra outfielder is called up. What's this? Lou Montanez can't play rightfield? Maybe that's it. Salazar up and Montanez returns to Bowie to finish off the Triple Crown and help out thru the playoffs. Trembley's use or lack thereof, of Montanez has been mind-boggling. What has he done wrong?
The umpiring has been horrible this entire series, and a total distaster on Saturday. Probably a combination of incompetence from "Fat", errr, "Country" Joe West & Crew (he must be 350 lbs. if he's an ounce) along with MLB's desire to have the Yankees make the post-season at any cost....Pro baseball right now ranks only slightly ahead of pro wrestling in terms of legitimacy.
DT avoided the question about Ramon and the play at the plate, and I believe it was your question Roch. There was no doubt that he could have and should have blocked the plate, but he just doesn't have the guts. He actually pulled his right foot out of the way allowing Damon an open corner of the plate to slide into.
At his age, being injury prone, and in the first inning there was no way Damon was going to try to barrel Ramon over. Just get the out. There's no way he can be our catcher next season. If he can't be traded away, I see him becoming the 2009 version of Jay Gibbons. I feel confident that Andy MacPhail will do what is right.